


A Simple Umbrella

by MyNamesBelle



Category: Original Work
Genre: Character Death, Death, Grim Reapers, Original Character(s), Reapers, Short Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:34:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23933881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyNamesBelle/pseuds/MyNamesBelle
Summary: A 500 -1000 word essay prompt for my creative writing class. It's a short story about the journey from a stuffy hospital room to killing people with an umbrella.I know it sounds weird, just give it a chance <3I hope to expand this story eventually, make it longer than this, but no promises!





	A Simple Umbrella

When I died it was fast. After years of sitting in the same bed in the same hospital with the same view, it was like a breath of fresh air; to be able to move again. I was able to see again. I could breathe again. So fast I was alone. The same world, but empty. The same me, but am I empty?

There was a lot of wandering. A lot of just being. I missed my family but that seemed so far away by the time I’d made it out of the hospital. 

Everything seemed really far away by the time I made it out of the hospital. But the moment I stepped out of the hospital I was somewhere else, and time was suddenly moving at me, hurdling towards me with a vengeance. Two doors, neither labeled, left floating in an infinite expanse of white. I wanted to go back in that moment. I wanted the familiarity of the hospital. The routine of showers while being held by someone else. I wanted the weird food and sour jello cups. Anything but the expanse of white. Anything but the emptiness of my mind.

One of the doors opened, the sky clear with the sun hanging soundly in it. The grounds of the hospital lying just under the sky, the skyline I’d seen from my window waiting patiently for me. But it was empty. Everyone was gone. I didn’t want the emptiness. I didn’t want to be the emptiness anymore.

I reached for the other door before I could think. My body was through before my eyes had really seen. What I saw scared me, but it was better than the emptiness.

A small girl was standing in a dark room, a large weapon in her hand, almost floating. I felt the door shut behind me with a sense of finality. 

Whatever decision I’d made, this was it. 

“So glad you decided to join us. We always love a heavy soul.” The voice that left her body was dark and old and sent shivers down my spine. Whoever this girl was, she wasn’t what she seemed.

“Where am I now? What’s happening?” I asked, wary of the large weapon the girl held. A tinkling laugh left her mouth, making her appear more childlike.

“Common, you’ve made the decision to be a reaper. No need to pretend otherwise. Your soul is heavy enough or the door wouldn’t have opened. This scythe, take it with pride, for it will be your companion through the rest of eternity.” Long gone is the face of a child, rather replaced with a demon. A mouth forming a crooked grin opens with sharp teeth, directly above four sets of eyes lookout, each eye a black so deep it’s empty. No nose decorates the face, instead, excessively blank skin surrounds the features. The weapon, the scythe, she holds moves from her grip floating casually towards me and my hands reach out and take it before I can think. The girl laughs loud and maniac and it's the last thing I see before the world sinks to black.

When my eyes flutter open I see a world of black and white. I’m standing in the middle of a city I’ve only ever seen in postcards and new years eve countdowns.

People push past all around me, heading in different directions like scattering ants. Cars honk and a general murmur of noise surround me, but it all seems somewhat distant. I feel heavier as if dressed differently, in winter clothes, and a weight in my hand forces me to look down. 

A simple umbrella. But my mind knows differently. It’s the scythe that I’d grabbed from the girl. I was holding the tip as a handle and part of me knew if I were to swing it the butt of the umbrella it would turn into the same sharp blade it had been before. I made my way towards a reflective window, moving through the people surrounding me with ease. 

The mirror showed the same masculine face I’ve always known, but it was more filled out. It was as if I hadn’t spent years draining away in a hospital. I looked healthy, bulky even as if I went to the gym on a regular basis. My clothes had changed to thicker clothes, ready to take on a New York winter, but I realized I couldn’t really feel the temperature. 

“This isn’t what I wanted…. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do…” I muttered to myself. I looked better but I couldn’t really feel my body, as if I was simply possessing it.

“You alright there sir?” A voice to my left asks me. I turn surprised to see a flash of red. A woman shorter than me looked up at me expectantly, but I couldn’t reply, so focused on the splash of red that decorates her torso. A red cross, upside down, painted like a blood splatter along her body. She clears her throat and I glance around and find people staring.

Before I know it the woman is having me follow her, something about warming up and getting food, but just before we exit an alleyway she’s lead me through, she turns, a knife in her hands.

“Give me your wallet kid. I don’t want this to get messy.” When I don’t respond, when I stand shocked senseless, she moves closer jutting the knife in my direction. This time when my body reacts my mind is on the same page. I’m swinging the butt of the umbrella before she can react. It’s over before I can react.

When I leave the alley, the world is dripping in red, so many people pushing past, red-painted along their bodies. 

I don’t focus on that. I was never given rules for this. So I made my own life. I hung on the outskirts of a group of friends, part of them but separate. A separate soul, a soul tied to an umbrella.

I always made sure the person deserved it before I brought out the umbrella.


End file.
